Judge to weigh plea deal of funeral home owner accused of stashing nearly 190 decaying bodies

By JESSE BEDAYN, Associated Press

A Colorado funeral home owner accused of stashing nearly 190 decaying bodies in a bug-infested building took a plea deal last year for abusing corpses, but on Monday, family members of the deceased will argue that the deal’s 15- to 20-year sentence isn’t enough.

Carie Hallford and her husband, Jon Hallford, owned Return to Nature Funeral Home and are accused of piling the bodies in the building in a rural town between 2019 and 2023, giving families fake ashes and defrauding the federal government out of nearly $900,000.

Families, who believed they had honored their loved ones’ wishes with a cremation, learned that their son’s, husband’s or mother’s remains weren’t in the urn or the ashes they ceremonially spread, but instead languishing with nearly 190 other bodies.

The scene inside the building in Penrose, Colorado, about a two-hour drive south of Denver, was horrific, officials said. Decomposition fluid covered the floor, bugs swarmed and bodies were stacked atop each other in various states of decay — some had been there for four years.

Last year, both Jon and Carie Hallford pleaded guilty to 191 counts of corpse abuse, but State District Judge Eric Bentley rejected Jon Hallford’s plea deal in August after victims argued the sentencing was too lenient. After that, Jon Hallford withdrew his guilty plea, and he is scheduled for trial.

Now, Carie Hallford’s plea deal will face victims’ objections. It’s unclear if the judge will accept or reject the deal on Monday, or at a later date.

Both Hallfords also admitted in federal court to defrauding the U.S. Small Business Administration out of nearly $900,000 in pandemic-era aid and taking payments from customers for cremations the funeral home never did. Officials said the two spent lavishly, buying a GMC Yukon, laser body sculpting, vacations, jewelry and cryptocurrency.

After pleading guilty in federal court, Jon Hallford was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Carie Hallford’s sentencing in the federal case is scheduled for December.